My iPod #269: Billy Talent - Devil on My Shoulder

So yesterday I wrote about another Billy Talent track. One that starts off another of their albums. This one is about another devil but instead of it being in a midnight mass, it is now on a shoulder. The song's narrator's shoulder. It is the first song on Billy Talent's third/fourth album, and was released as its second single.

This was the one that really got me pumped up for the release of "Billy Talent III". "Turn Your Back" was the first new song that showed that the group had a new album in the works when a live performance of it at the Hurricane Festival in 2008 was uploaded onto YouTube. That was all well and good, but it would be almost a year until anticipation for the upcoming album really started rolling. "Rusted from the Rain" was released as the first official single, which I thought was okay upon first listen. It grew on me over time, but there wasn't anything particularly striking about it initially.

Then..... this happened. A trailer previewing another new song from the album. A sneaky bassline joined by Ben growling the title of the song, then followed by an assault from the guitar and drums. This was what I wanted to hear. It sounded so cool. That was "Devil on My Shoulder".

It probably should have been released as the first single. I wouldn't have had the same amount of doubts about the album if it had been. The song itself is from the perspective of someone who has very bad luck, feeling nothing but self-loathing and self-pity. In terms of its sound, it was very different to anything else that Billy Talent had released. Brendan O'Brien - who has produced albums for artists such as Rage Against the Machine, The Offspring and Pearl Jam - brings a real studio atmosphere into the album, something that was not so obvious on the albums prior to it. This was a proper hard rock song. This was no longer a band who needed to scream, or were as angry as they used to be in previous songs. Billy Talent had.... matured (eerrrr).

It had to happen one day. But "Devil on My Shoulder" was the sign that showed me that the fire was still roared in the belly of Billy Talent.

My iPod #238: Test Icicles - Dancing on Pegs

Near the end of Test Icicles first and only album "For Screening Purposes Only" comes "Dancing on Pegs", a track written by guitarist Rory Atwell.

Can't say much about the song... It has no deep meaning to me, or in general. I just think it's really cool. Atwell once claimed it is about a relationship, but you wouldn't really tell from the gory imagery made by the lyrics. Chopping someone down at the knee and bloody raw hands aren't really the things I would come up with if I was taken. It's sinister in tone, but quite hilarious too.

It's a very noisy track. Not like there's a whole mesh of instruments smashed together so the lyrics are incomprehensible or anything. Everything's a bit distorted, some cool riffs occur during the verses and it's delivered at a very quick rate.

Listen to it if you're interested.

My iPod #181: Tokyo Police Club - Cheer It On

When watching MTV2 in 2007, the video for "Cheer It On" played in a program showing all the brand new music that was coming out at the time. I heard it that one time and liked it a lot, but the video was barely played on the channel again. I saw the last few seconds of it by chance when I switched the TV using the remote, but then never saw it the channel again.

Thank goodness for YouTube, which at this point did exist, as I could watch it over and over again without having to wait for another music video to finish. The song is only two minutes long, is performed at a rapid rate and the video has no fancy concept so the track never got tiresome.

Essentially the tune is the band's theme song - being released on their first EP as the first track.

I was hoping the band would become one of my new favourites but it was not meant to be. I was very excited when "Your English Is Good" came out, that is a fine piece, but... I don't know. Maybe I should listen to "Elephant Shell" again. It is not too late.

My iPod #56: George Harrison - Awaiting on You All

Alright everyone, we've reached the end.

The end of the 'A' section that is. It's been a good two months.

When I first came onto Blogger, I didn't have anything in mind that I wanted to get off my chest. The first thing I had was just talking about things that were interesting to me, or events in my life that I had regrets about or whatever.

When I changed my mind and decided to focus on 'My iPod', I never thought I would be able to continuously talk about a song and why it meant so much to me for fifty-six days straight, and yet here I am about to post about another one.

I have exams. Those are very important, so I probably won't be posting on here as regularly. Maybe something will pop up here and there, but for the moment 'My iPod' won't be back until June.

And so, the song today is 'Awaiting on You All' by George Harrison, another one from his triple album, 'All Things Must Pass', in 1970.

Beatles fans will know that out of the four, George was the most religious. Or at least the one who most believed that there was an almighty, higher power who cared for the world and the people who inhabit it.

Any of you guys who also own 'All Things Must Pass' will definitely know the song, 'My Sweet Lord'. That song was George's first single as a solo artist, and topped the music charts worldwide upon release in 1970. It got to number one in the UK again after his death in 2001.

'My Sweet Lord' is a very religious song, for obvious reasons. But for those who haven't heard it, Harrison incorporates the use of the "Hare Krishna" mantra and chants of hallelujahs which build up as a countermelody whilst Harrison sings, building an epic climax which eventually fades out. With Phil Spector's 'Wall of Sound' production technique, there is this gigantic albeit very echoey atmosphere.

'Awaiting on You All' is quite religious too, and if 'My Sweet Lord' is the music that plays on the organ in church when the service is starting, everyone is sitting down and the pastor or whoever is up on the stage announcing what will take place, then the former is when the first hymn starts and everybody is up on the feet, yelling rejoice to the heavens, bellowing the lungs to the skies above and break dancing in the middle of the aisle. Maybe I'm thinking of The Blues Brothers, but that's what it reminds me of.

'Awaiting' has more of a political message to it than My Sweet Lord. Harrison desires to experience spirituality directly whilst rejecting organised religion as well as political and intellectal substitutes. That is basically what it says on the song's article on Wikipedia. He criticises the Pope, and includes jibes at John Lennon and Yoko Ono about their week in bed.

"THE LORD IS AWAITING ON YOU ALL TO AWAKEN AND SEE.
BY CHANTING THE NAMES... OF THE LORD.... YOU WILL BE FREE!"

HALLELUJAH, TESTIFY!

Come on, that sounds like something a guy would say in church, am I right? Or am I right?

Oh well. That's the end for now. You won't be hearing from me for some time. Got work to do.

'My iPod' will be back in June! When the 'B' series begins!

Until then.

Jamie.